


Patience Yields Focus

by Lunarium



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Apocalypse, Character Death, Crossover, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Nightmares, Pandemics, Rash Illness (Stand Still Stay Silent), bites, falling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-15 21:25:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18677662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: Nightmares haunt Aino ever since her world’s been thrown into darkness, but only she, and her daughter, know the source of the disease.





	Patience Yields Focus

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wondered what if Honerva/Haggar was the reason behind the Rash Illness in the SSSS-verse, and after seeing S8, it's not that far-fetched of an idea to imagine SSSS is just an alt reality of the paladin's Earth! 
> 
> Written for H/C Bingo's Amnesty April round, for Crossovers! My prompts were pandemics and epidemics, abuse, falling, and bites.

Grief and sorrow threatened the integrity of the Altean castle walls, and vengeful cries for blood filled the void of the now silent halls, littered with bodies of men and woman, and the little boy, the boy who would not accept her for his mother—

By the time the paladins had reached her, Honerva had flown far beyond their reach, her rage insatiable. Far across the universe she espied a marbled blue planet amidst a company of a handful more planets, but this one, she knew, contained life; the planet simply flourished with it. 

Snarling, her long fingers reached, shadowing over the marbled orb, for may every mother feel the same anguish as she, the same crippling lost—torn apart shall be this world—

Aino awoke in cold sweat, chest heaving and fingers like icicles, before recognizing her husband sleeping on one side of her and her sister on the other. Her unborn child kicked as if it had picked up its mother distress. 

Sighing, Aino stared up at the roof of their boat, now their home. 

“Another dream?” Saku asked in the quietest voice near her ear. She nodded as reply. The same nightmare since the day the news first reported of the pandemic, since her world came crashing down. 

The witch returned every night, her once healthy tawny skin greying into a sickly purple-blue, her eyes glowing yellow, pain and rage and jealousy burning behind them, her teeth bared as she wrought chaos and destruction, her sharp talon-like fingernails digging deep into the core of the planet. 

Far behind her Aino sees the child, the young boy, who had rejected her as his mother. Gasping, her heart aching for the little boy, who mother’s cold heart had struck him dead—always, always before Aino can get to him first—and she turns tail to escape the witch, disappearing into the never-ending woods before falling and sinking into the river, her swan-boat just out of reach. 

The paladins were too late in reaching her, and this Earth—her Earth—would suffer for it.

*

When the itching began, she hid under big bulky sweaters to cover the white chafed skin; Tuuli had given her suspicious looks, but a good telling-to had sent her away. Left alone, she vigorously scratched at her wrist, and scratched and scratched until her skin chafed white and broke into beads of bright red.

Days of working in Helmi’s restaurant seemed but eons ago.

*

“Patience yields focus,” the paladin with black strips told the other, a paladin shorter in stature with red stripes. They spoke with the leader placing a hand on the Red Paladin’s shoulder. The Red Paladin bowed his head, taking in the Black Paladin’s words to heart before meeting the Black Paladin’s eyes. Affection swam between them, affection and nobility, and Aino realized they were people she could trust. She broke into a run, hoping to reach them, before—before—

“Please! Help save my world—”

But the scene and paladins dissolved before her. Falling, to her death, to her doom, her skin bursting into flames, giving in to the fires boiling right underneath her skin, Aino’s mind flashed to back to the two Paladins: battling the space witch, converging with the rest of the paladins, the two intimate when alone, the Black Paladin biting down on Red’s shoulder and Aino’s heart ached for her dear Saku’s own touch till the skin of the paladin’s reddened, burned, greened, and oozed green. 

“Shiro!” 

“Keith!” 

“No!” she cried out as she fell into darkness, realization striking her like a bullet to the heart point-blank—seeing herself, her Saku, her bite marks leaving rotting marks all over his back, his honeyed smile as his body rotted away holding her hand as she birthed their child, a sauna, against her wishes—the child taken away as they both drew their final breaths, the sauna their prison lest another stricken by the disease. 

Crying out, Aino jolted awake, back at the boat. Alone. Eino, Tuuli, and Veeti could be heard chattering away outside, a soundtrack to Kaino arguing with Tuuli and Saku vomiting. Normal life, impervious to the source of their misery, shield by the merciful overcast skies. 

Getting into a sitting position, Aino sent a prayer of gratitude to the paladins who had fought and sacrificed themselves for the world. They tried. They had all tried. 

The child kicked roughly against her. 

“Patience yields focus,” she said under her breath as she massaged her swollen belly, the sleeves of her sweater riding up to reveal angry, red botches of the rash illness. “Patience yields focus.”

*

“Patience yields focus,” Ensi said, pacing the forest glade. Words she had never heard spoken by another before, not that she lingered much with other folks. It was certainly not from late Aunt Kaino, nor Tuuli, but she was certain her late mother had spoken them at one point, long time ago. Although she had never met her mother, nor her father.

“Patience yields focus.” 

She peered down the forest. Once, she had glimpsed the cosmic goddess, joined by her five paladins. Ensi knew nothing of their story but suspected they had something to do with the witch who haunted in the shadows of her world. Their battles were long and tedious. They fought well. She knew none of their names and she wasn’t about to paint romantic tales of them to others to tell for generations to come, but she respected them. 

“Patience yields focus.” 

She extended her hand, and the sparks at last passed over her fingers, sharp tingles riding up to her fingertips. 

The cold hiss of the witch, always watching, loomed closer. 

Now a mother herself, a grandmother even, Ensi was ready. A mother to another: one who killed for being unlovable, to one who did not care for love but always did the right thing. 

Turning to a nearby rock, Ensi willed it, and her stoic face betrayed the otherwise lift in her spirit in seeing nature bend and sway to her every will. No matter how often she performed magic, it was always a wonder to behold. Perhaps the gods, or even the cosmic goddess herself, had willed it for humans to battle against evil. 

Facing towards the approaching threat, Ensi readied herself— _patience yields focus_ —and, facing the mother whose anger had poisoned the entire world, a daring smile crept on her face.


End file.
